Management Tip of the Day: Helping the average employee

BOSTON Companies need to have strategies for managing each tier of talent, including making sure average employees are put in roles that maximize their strengths, says Harvard Business Review.

The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (http:\\www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters.

"Performance reviews tell you whether someone is doing an adequate job, but they fail to reveal whether people are doing the right jobs.

This is especially problematic for average performers - those not good enough to be high potentials, but not bad enough to be fired.

Don't let these folks limp along in roles that are not right for them. Instead, perform 'fit tests' at regular intervals that compare people's strengths and interests with their current job descriptions.

For example, is someone in product development, but better suited for a position as an industry researcher? Trust your instinct if you sense there's a mismatch, and be honest. You might help average employees become stars.

- Today's management tip was adapted from "The Challenge of the Average Employee" by Anthony Tjan.

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